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Room-Temp Pizza: A Gamble or Good-to-Go?
How Stuff Works ^ | FEB 23, 2018 | Dave Roos

Posted on 02/25/2018 6:48:42 PM PST by nickcarraway

Day-old pizza is God's gift to college students, starving artists and anyone who thought it was a brilliant idea to order that extra-large double-meat at 2 a.m. after coming home from the bar, only to go sleepy-peepy halfway through the first slice.

But while cold pizza is a bona fide breakfast of champions, what about room-temperature pizza? Will you get sick if you throw down a few slices of the pepperoni that sat in a greasy cardboard box next to your bed for the last eight hours?

The official answer — don't risk it. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) published some food safety guidelines for students in which it answered this very question. According to the USDA, you should throw away any leftover food that's been sitting out at room temperature for two hours or more, whether or not it contains meat.

The reason is that bad bacteria grow the fastest on foods that are in the "danger zone," temperatures between 40 degrees Fahrenheit and 140 degrees Fahrenheit (4.4 degrees Celsius to 60 Celsius). The bacteria actually double in number every 20 minutes.

Does that mean that every pizza is contaminated with pathogenic bacteria that will explode in number if the pie is left out for more than two hours? Absolutely not. Benjamin Chapman, a food safety specialist at North Carolina State University, told Lifehacker that leftover pizza hasn't made enough people sick to count as a public health risk.

Chapman says it's probably because pizza toppings and crust are generally too dry to be bacteria-friendly environments and that tomato sauce is too acidic. Not all toppings are created equal, though. Pepperoni is dry cured, so it's built to last. But eating old veggie ingredients or moist chunks of chicken is probably pressing your luck.

To get a sense of the general risk level of pizza, check out this public health report from Ontario, Canada. According to a review of global food poisoning databases, pizza has been implicated in a number of foodborne illness outbreaks worldwide, and that includes pizzas of all types (plain cheese, meat, veggie) in both restaurants and in homes.

For some perspective though, that report cited a few hundred individual cases of food poisoning over more than a decade of worldwide pizza-eating. In the U.S. alone, we eat an estimated 3 billion pizzas every year.

So should you finish off those last two pieces of stuffed-crust Hawaiian from last night's poker game? The odds of getting sick are probably similar to the odds of drawing a royal flush. So the real question is, are you feeling lucky?


TOPICS: Food; Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: conspiracy; cowabungadude; gatedpizza; pizza; pizzagate; tmnt; wereallgonnadie
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To: yarddog

30 cases? you would not poop in 30 years LOL


41 posted on 02/25/2018 7:38:10 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

Someone at work keeps their vinegar in the fridge LOL


42 posted on 02/25/2018 7:40:05 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: mylife

NB: Not a good rule of thumb for wild mushrooms! Some people on their deathbeds have said that the very poisonous ones they ate didn’t taste bad at all.


43 posted on 02/25/2018 7:41:25 PM PST by jiggyboy (Ten percent of poll respondents are either lying or insane)
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To: All

Gotta saw logs, Cyall....


44 posted on 02/25/2018 7:41:47 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: mylife

Actually those 30 cases lasted me two or three years. That was eating one every few days or so.

My wife died over 20 years ago and I have not eaten well since. I am not much of a cook so that is part of why the MREs tasted OK to me.


45 posted on 02/25/2018 7:41:59 PM PST by yarddog
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To: jiggyboy

the fungus among us


46 posted on 02/25/2018 7:42:52 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: right way right

I used to work with a guy. He grabbed his Tupperware container out of his trunk Monday morning. “I almost forgot my lunch - lasagna!”

All the rest of his gear was in his backseat. “Oh - did you put it back there to keep it cooler?”

“No - it’s leftover from Friday.”

“Yeah - but why did you put it in the trunk?”

“’Cuz the car was full of people on Friday.”

“Wait - it’s been in the trunk since Friday?” (Springtime).

“Yeah - oh - it’ll still be okay.”

He used to be a Health Inspector - educated me on a few things. He ate it all and didn’t get sick. However, I still wouldn’t risk 3 day old lasagna from the trunk!


47 posted on 02/25/2018 7:43:18 PM PST by 21twelve
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To: yarddog

You should go to Huddle House :)

Sorry for your loss.


48 posted on 02/25/2018 7:44:49 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: nickcarraway

Hey safety nazi’s, I’ll eat all the room temp pizza I want. I once ate 2-3 day old room temp pizza and was just fine.


49 posted on 02/25/2018 7:46:16 PM PST by cyclotic (Trump tweets are the only news source you can trust.)
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To: 21twelve

He probably had confidence in that it was prepped clean and cooked right.
If he offered some I would pass though.


50 posted on 02/25/2018 7:50:27 PM PST by right way right (May we remain sober over mere men, for God really is our one and only true hope.)
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To: cyclotic

Lil chewy?


51 posted on 02/25/2018 7:51:42 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: LostInBayport

Cold Pizza in the Morning! My #1 all time fave.


52 posted on 02/25/2018 7:52:03 PM PST by Boiler Plate ("Why be difficult, when with just a little more work, you can be impossible" Mom)
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To: nickcarraway
So the real question is, are you feeling lucky?

When it comes to drawing a royal straight flush, the answer is no. Getting sick from pizza at room temperature, my "luck" meter in pegged. 8>)

53 posted on 02/25/2018 7:52:24 PM PST by Robert DeLong
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To: nickcarraway

Maybe a fresh organic pizza but the crap we buy is so salty and the meats are super cured they can sit there at room temperature for 3 days and you won’t get sick.

the worst I’ve done is let the crusts harden for 2 days, then gnaw ‘em if you feel like snacking.


54 posted on 02/25/2018 7:53:21 PM PST by Fhios (1988 - Where's Waldo :: 2018 - Where's Jeff Sessions.)
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To: nickcarraway

If its in the box with the lid covered, and your house isnt a sauna, and no anchovies or veggies, no worries. never got sick off pizza left overnite covered in a box.


55 posted on 02/25/2018 7:54:54 PM PST by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: nickcarraway

Nuc it, it’s the only way to be sure.


56 posted on 02/25/2018 7:55:14 PM PST by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again,")
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To: mylife

Not really. The crust was stale but I was in college and hungry


57 posted on 02/25/2018 7:56:09 PM PST by cyclotic (Trump tweets are the only news source you can trust.)
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To: cyclotic

Bon Appa Tits!


58 posted on 02/25/2018 7:58:05 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: Boiler Plate
Cold Pizza in the Morning! My #1 all time fave.

The night before you had hot pizza, which was great. The next day you have cold pizza, which tastes very different but is also great! What's not to like, right?
59 posted on 02/25/2018 8:00:09 PM PST by LostInBayport (When there are more people riding in the cart than there are pulling it, the cart stops moving...)
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To: mylife

“General rule of thumb: “if it looks OK, smells OK and tastes OK, it probably OK”

If it looks wonky and smells funky....”

This applies to dating too.


60 posted on 02/25/2018 8:07:44 PM PST by KrisKrinkle (Blessed be those who know the depth and breadth of their ignorance. Cursed be those who don't.)
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